USGS reports 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the Cook Inlet

Residents on the Kenai Peninsula, in Anchorage and other parts of Southcentral Alaska were jolted by a moderately strong earthquake Monday afternoon.

The 5.8 magnitude quake started at 4:42 p.m. Monday according to the United States Geological Survey.

It was centered about 27 miles west of Anchorage in Cook Inlet according to the survey.

Two aftershocks, one a magnitude of 2.8, the other a 2.6, were felt within minutes. The USGS is also reporting a 2.7 magnitude earthquake 38 miles East of Whittier.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center has not issued any tsunami advisories at this time.

According to the Associated Press, Guy Urban, a geophysicist at the tsunami warning center, said the center had reports of residents feeling the quake across the region. It was also felt as far south as the fishing community of Homer, 125 miles southwest of Anchorage, and in Willow, 50 miles north of the city.

Alaska is seismically active and has frequent earthquakes, although most are too small or too remote to be felt. Alaska is the site of the biggest earthquake recorded in North America — a magnitude-9.2 quake on Good Friday 1964 that struck 75 miles east of Anchorage on Prince William Sound.

The quake and the ensuing tsunami killed 115 people in Alaska and 16 people in California.